Jakarta Hen's Weekend (Last Day)

Went to see Monas (Suharto's last erection) and made a quick stop at Cafe Batavia for a real coffee. Everyone seemed to like the place, reminded me of tourists at Long Bar, Raffles Hotel.

Then we went to my parents' for BBQ.
Stayed there the whole afternoon and rushed to the airport at 7:30pm.
What happens in Jakarta, stays in Jakarta, so I won't mention everything.
But this photo at the airport, says it.

Jakarta Hen's Weekend (Part 2)

As planned originally, we head to the spa on Saturday. But plan B was to take the girls to the girlie spa and take the boys to the "gentlemen's" spa. Turned out, the girlie spa could only accommodate 4 girls.... so I went to the "ladies and gentlemen"'s spa with the boys, which only had massage and scrub. After the brief spa, we went to a English theme pub - obviously, and waited for the girls. When the girls were done, they were looking all so pimped up and pretty! Went to have "Padang food" for lunch for some local experience, and then some went shopping while some went for swim or sleep at the hotel.

At night, we went to dinner at Loewry's. This restaurant is new and it's fully book for 1 month or more in advance. Lucky for us, Sachiko who organized the hotel also organized 20 seats for this night and there came 10 more of my girlfriends from Jakarta. Of course, they were puzzled with the event. Some thought it's my dad's birthday.

Then after dinner we went to 'East' a new mini club next to Loewry's. But it was a pre-club club, by 1am people moved elsewhere. So the remaining 4 (Matt, Matt, Brad and I) went to the infamous Stadium and danced the night away amongst the trippers.

Jakarta Hen's Weekend (plust the boys!)

I had been planning a Hen's weekend with the girls (Inez, Yayoi, Cindy and Serene) to Jakarta for a girlie weekend on July 25 - 27.
But because Rique turns 1 on July 23 and Dad turns 70 on the 25th, Takeya family was planning a big BBQ party on that weekend, on which Matt was invited.
And since Matt is in Jakarta, Brad decided to come and Matt invited Matt Adams who's new to this part of Asia to come, and since there are boys, Cindy got Alexis to come.
So there, it was a group tour, and me, the ad hoc tour guide.
We started our Friday happy hours from Changi Airport Harry's bar with beers and burger king fries and nuggets - good start.
Arrived and checked in at Aston Rasuna Service apartment at 11pm and trashed the Penthouse a bit with some of the wine we cleverly purchased at the DFS, then went to Aphrodite which was just next door, just because we could.

Yayoi-san is getting MARRIED!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
to Yayoi-san and Lasse!

They will tie a knot on August 5, 2008 in Denmark.

Yayoi-san will finish her term with Japanese school in Singapore and will be leaving to Denmark for good in April next year.
After 9 years of 'long distance' relationship, they hold a record of being the most unbelievable and unusual couple in love.
I wish Lasse and Yayoi-san a great life together!!

One Saturday

Another peaceful Saturday...
Keith and I joined Matt at Harry's where he finished watching a rugby game with his mates.
Yusuke came later with a watermelon (again).
At a bar full of drunken rugby guy (in particular Matt), the fate of the content of a watermelon ends in the stomach and the shell on the heads.

got a new MacBook!

Matt's PowerBook G4 became too full and performance was failing, especially after all the photos and songs we downloaded....
So he got a new black MacBook!
Now the two is side by side and I'm amazed to find how dark and cloudy the 2 year old PowerBook's screen is, and how bright and clear the new screen is! I didn't notice it at all until a new and better one came in!
Apple sure makes a simple and reliable system, for home use, I definitely recommend Apple.

Cat a.k.a Neko-chan leaving

Actually, we know Cat from her boyfriend - Anthony, who was Matt's Rugby mate in England, who asked Matt to look after Cat while she's in Singapore for a 4 months assignment.

Young and vibrant and at times really weird girl.
She managed to take care of herself in Singapore and we only met few times for drink and shopping and some girlie things but it was fun while it lasted.
This is taken on her last night in Singapore. Anthony visited from London for the last week she's here.
Also joined by Matt's friend from London, Matt. Yeah, his name is Matt too. But his nickname is Fluffy. You'll kind of get why.

one boozy Sunday

Cindy and Alexis invited us over to their place again on Sunday afternoon.

Who could say no to 'opening a good aged wine' and 'wanted to share with good friends, and we thought of you guys, so come over!' ...eh?

Nabe + Watermelon + Durian Party

Yusuke, the new face in Singapore cooked Nabe at Keith's place and it was Amazing!
How amazing? - I imitated and ate it for the whole week after that.
But I was doing it wrong! - only after a week I realized, he put rice wine and water 1:1! That was the secret!

Anyway, after the nabe we played games and the penalty for looser was to break the watermelon with our own head!
Only for Keith, the penalty was not water melon but Durian!